Waiguru is enjoying President’s protection, claims Raila

President Uhuru Kenyatta has been accused of shielding former Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru in the National Youth Service (NYS) scandal.

Cord leader Raila Odinga on Monday described Ms Waiguru as President Kenyatta’s “protectorate” in his latest attack on Jubilee administration’s “failure to fight corruption”.

“So protected was Ms Waiguru by the Head of State that calls by none other than the Deputy President William Ruto for her prosecution on the Sh1.6 billion scam had fell on deaf ears,” said Mr Odinga.

He added: “The protection Ms Waiguru is enjoying clearly demonstrates that the NYS scam is President Kenyatta’s scam and its chief architect is his protectorate,” Mr Odinga said in a 690-word statement sent to newsrooms.

The former powerful Cabinet Secretary who worked with President Kenyatta since his early days in public service resigned last year following pressure for her to take responsibility of the scam.

“The fact that Ms Waiguru has not been prosecuted when most officials mentioned in the scam have appeared in the dock was proof of the President’s protection,” Mr Odinga said

He added: “Today, Ms Waiguru remains protected from prosecution despite the many calls from even the DP for her to be charged. The only logical explanation for this selective prosecution is that Ms Waiguru is a “Kenyatta protectorate” whom the president is keen to retain even at the expense of coalition partners URP.”

The Cord leader dismissed accusations by the government that he was abetting graft in his coalition-controlled counties as signs of giving up.

“The attempt to spread the corruption blame to Cord leadership is nonsense as the leadership has no control over the investigative and prosecutorial agencies,” Mr Odinga said. He asked: “With all the power of manipulation that we have seen Jubilee exercise over these agencies, how comes they are not taking any action against the alleged corrupt people in Cord?”

Mr Odinga has consistently faulted the approach taken by President Kenyatta to deal with the Sh5.2 billion audit queries in the Ministry of Health, the NYS theft and audit queries of the Sh250 billion Eurobond proceeds.

“The opposition is sabotaging Kenya’s ability to borrow money yet the money is for all of us. This is despite all agencies proving that no Eurobond money was lost,” said President Kenyatta in his tour of Central Kenya.

Mr Odinga in October had warned international lending institutions and investors against participating in a second international bond proposed by Kenya.

Mr Odinga reiterated that the buck stops with President Kenyatta.

“Just when everyone is looking up to the government to contain and eradicate corruption, the government itself appears to be waiting for someone else to deal with the issue. Jubilee is appealing to an unknown power to jail the corrupt,” he said.

He argued that if Jubilee has any evidence of corruption, then they should place it before these agencies and get it acted on, “not standing on political platforms lamenting like ordinary powerless citizens.”

“The government has at its disposal all the investigative and prosecutorial agencies and should not therefore be lamenting as if it is a member of the civil society,” the ODM leader said.

“It gets more ridiculous when the people lamenting and promising action are themselves suspects in numerous corruption scandals in Kenya.”